This is a pretty crazy story, and it’s amazing to see L.A.’s fractured literary community rally around one of their own. Read the story below to see why people want to help…

Author and key LA literary figure Joseph Mattson and his family–(his fiancee and 8-week-old infant son)–are in serious jeopardy and need emergency aid. Mattson is the author of the acclaimed novel Empty the Sun, the story collection Eat Hell, and is editor of The Speed Chronicles, as well as a regular contributor to Slake and The Rattling Wall and much more. Last year, Joseph’s mother was the victim of homicide, killed by her husband in a brutal act of domestic assault so severe that perfect outlines of the killer’s fists were imprinted in bruise all over her body; she died of brain death resulting from a brain bleed, the fatal wound caused by traumatic head impact. The man is currently in prison, serving out a sentence of 2-9 years for manslaughter and will likely be released in December, 2013, after only the mandatory 2 years–due to the poor economy. In the wake of his mother’s death, Mattson was named personal representative of her affairs, including her estate, which is comprised predominantly of property and investments inherited by Joseph’s mother from her parents/Joseph’s grandparents. Earlier this year, her killer/husband filed litigation to try to take possession of his victim’s estate. While “slayer rules” exist to prohibit such unconscionable acts by revoking a killer’s rights of inheritance so that he cannot benefit from the person he killed, it has been recently discovered that Mattson’s probate lawyers failed across the board not only to apply these “slayer rules” but also failed to protect Mattson’s rights as a registered crime victim, rights to object to and appeal the killer’s petitions, and allowing the killer carte blanch access to Mattson’s personal information–directly compromising and endangering Mattson’s, his fiancee’s, and their newborn son’s safety and security–including violating Mattson’s freedom to write–and so much more, resulting in total immediate financial loss for Mattson due to over $50,000 in legal fees and protections, with another mountain of debt coming in order to secure new representation and to launch counter litigation to protect him and his family from the felon that took his mother’s life. Mattson is in dire need of money for legal aid, family welfare and infant healthcare, household security, and basic living expenses while unable to work in order to attend to this dire crisis situation. We need to raise an immediate $25,000 for urgent legal aid and security, and another $25,000 in the long-run (in the next few months) to cover everything else mentioned above. Full details are available by inquiry.